All posts in 'Factory Fresh'

Ten days after the official presentation, the BelugaXL completed its four-hour maiden flight at Blagnac in Toulouse, France. The BelugaXL will now undergo some 600 hours of flight test over the next 10 months to achieve Type Certification and entry into service later in 2019. The aircraft is the first.. Read more

The first Boeing KC-46A tanker that will be delivered to the U.S. Air Force next year successfully completed its first flight and airborne tests, taking off from Paine Field at 10:32 a.m. PST, December 8, 2017 and landing approximately three-and-one-half hours later. “Today’s flight is another milestone for the Air.. Read more

Russia’s new A-100 Premier airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft completed its first flight on November 18 from the Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex (TANTK), located near the Sea of Azov in the far west of the country. According to prime contractor Vega, the first A-100 prototype tested.. Read more

Russia has rolled out the latest upgrade of the world’s largest supersonic strategic bomber, the Tupolev Tu-160M2 “White Swan” NATO codename “Blackjack. While the original version of the Tu-160 first flew in December of 1981, the program was halted with collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukraine acquired several of the.. Read more

Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites debuted a new experimental aircraft, the Model 401, in an October 11, 2017 announcement of the prototype’s recent first flight. The company has built two Model 401 prototypes in service of an undisclosed customer “to demonstrate advanced, low-cost manufacturing techniques and to provide aircraft for.. Read more

Stratolaunch is the world’s largest aircraft by wingspan and is the largest all-composite plane ever built. Utilizing six Boeing 747 engines for a payload capacity of over 500,000 lbs. and an operational range of approximately 2,000 nautical miles, Stratolaunch is capable of delivering payloads to multiple orbits and inclinations in.. Read more

China’s domestically developed AG600, the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, took its maiden flight ahead of schedule on Saturday from the southern city of Zhuhai, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The AG600 will be suitable for aerial firefighting dropping 12 tonnes of water, and search and rescue operations for.. Read more

The Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, the third member of the 787 Dreamliner family, made its debut today at Boeing South Carolina. Thousands of employees at the North Charleston, S.C. site celebrated the event, along with U.S. President Donald Trump and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. “What’s happening here at Boeing South.. Read more

Textron AirLand, LLC, a Textron Inc. company, today announced the successful maiden flight of the first production conforming Scorpion jet. This program milestone closely follows the recent successful weapons capability exercise on the prototype Scorpion completed in early October. The Scorpion jet is a bold new direction for tactical aircraft.. Read more

Seventy years ago today in 1945, a B-29, one of 1,644 manufactured in Wichita during World War II, rolled off the assembly line at Boeing and was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces. Today that same aircraft was rolled out and “delivered” again, in commemoration of its restoration and.. Read more